Bob Marley (second left) and Jacob Miller (second right) with The Wailers guitarist Junior Marvin (left) and Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, in Brazil, in March 1980.–
BY BRIAN BONITTO–
Associate Editor —
The Jamaica Observer’s Entertainment Desk presents the 21st in a series titled Bob Marley — The Last 40 Days to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his passing.
BOB Marley and Jacob Miller had a lot in common. Not only were they rostered to Chris Blackwell’s Island Records, the singers were kindred spirits.
Bass guitarist Ian Lewis, co-founder of Inner Circle, cannot remember the day the two met, but knew they had a “spiritual connection”.
“Is a funny friendship. Is like a football thing it start from. Dem used to kick two ball over Tuff Gong — 56 (Hope Road). Jus’ some soft kicking… scrimmage, and Jakes start jam with him likkle… an’ Bob tek a kinda liking to him because dem start to vibe together — artiste to artiste. Bob kinda discover Jakes was a great guy,” Lewis told the Jamaica Observer.
The free-spirited Miller was front man for Inner Circle, but also enjoyed a solo career.
Lewis and his brother, guitarist Roger Lewis, formed the band in 1968.
Miller joined the outfit in the mid-1970s. Their hits included Tenement Yard and Tired Fi Lick Weed In A Bush. As a solo act, Miller had success with Forward Jah Jah Children, and All Night ‘Till Daylight.
Lewis first met Marley when Inner Circle was the backing band for People’s National Party candidate Michael Manley’s islandwide bandwagon on the 1972 General Election.
“We went on the road when (impresario) Clancy Eccles bring us out wid bandwagon. We backup all the artistes — Ken Boothe, Junior Byles, Clancy, everybody. We used to backup The Wailers. We used to back dem up. So when Bob went to England and did whatever business with Chris (Blackwell) and when he came back to Jamaica, he come around our home, 17 Chelsea Avenue, inna a white Oldsmobile — him, Peter Tosh an’ Bunny — an’ call us to Harry J studio and a suh wi get to play pon Stir It Up. Dem couldn’t find a drummer and a mi go inna Jones Town and pick up Sparrow Martin,” said Lewis.
“Ah me, Roger, an’ Sparrow Martin play Stir It Up at Harry J’s. Bob was mystical. Is not a man weh jus’ open. And when him a make music him serious as hell. Because that two-three hours at Harry J, there was no talking. About three times we lay down the cut an’ that was it. There was no talking. It was Stir It Up inna ‘A’, let’s go!” he continued.
In March 1980 Blackwell invited Marley and Miller to the opening of an Island Records office in Brazil.
“Chris thought it was a great thing for dem to guh down a Brazil together. An’ going down to Brazil on a plane for seven to eight hours is like a bonding did happen,” said Lewis.
Lewis never saw Miller on his return from Brazil, as he was in the United States.
“When Jakes come from Brazil him went straight down to GP (General Penitentiary) the next day and perform with Third World, and after GP now, Third World was doing something at Zinc Fence,” he recalled.
Miller and one of his sons died in a car accident on Hope Road in Kingston on March 23, 1980. He was 27.
In preparation for Miller’s send-off Lewis said he went to Marley’s home to borrow an electric piano.
“Bob help mi lift it inna the van. Mi never forget it. Him have on a T-shirt, a shorts and a slippers. And him help mi lift it (the piano) inna the van. Him say to mi: ‘Big man, mi check fi da yute dey, eh nuh. Is a good yute. Mi sey: ‘Yeah, Gong. Respect!” An’ him just give mi a look like, eh nuh. Just a look weh you can’t explain,” Lewis said.
“Him did check fi Jakes, man. Because him did help lift the electric piano inna the van, straight a Arena mi guh wid it,” he continued.
That was the last time he saw Marley, who died on May 11, 1981 of cancer. He was 36.
“I think if the two a dem did live another five or 10 years you would hear a combination; something woulda come pon vinyl. Dem was moving dat way,” said Lewis.
“I think is two of the greatest artistes ever to come outta Jamaica. Not to discredit the great Jimmy Cliff an’ other great men like Derrick Morgan and the great Joe Higgs an’ all these other artistes, fantastic in their own way. But for Jakes to be young and Bob being the elder; elder in the sense that he was in the business longer than Jakes. Jakes died at 27 and Bob dead at 36. The man dem was in the embryo stages and look pon dem works.”
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